CIUS JOURNAL of UKRAINIAN STUDIES Vols. 33-34
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JOURNAL OF UKRAINIAN STUDIES Volumes 33–34 2008–2009 TENTORIUM HONORUM ESSAYS PRESENTED TO FRANK E. SYSYN ON HIS SIXTIETH BIRTHDAY GUEST EDITORS OLGA ANDRIEWSKY, ZENON E. KOHUT, SERHII PLOKHY, AND LARRY WOLFF CONTRIBUTORS OLGA ANDRIEWSKY ♦ JARS BALAN ♦ PAUL BUSHKOVITCH ♦ TERESA CHYNCZEWSKA-HENNEL ♦ YAROSLAV FEDORUK ♦ DAVID FRICK ♦ АНДРІЙ ҐРЕЧИЛО ♦ MARK VON HAGEN ♦ LEONID HERETZ ♦ JOHN-PAUL HIMKA ♦ YAROSLAV HRYTSAK ♦ YAROSLAV ISAIEVYCH ♦ ANDREAS KAPPELER ♦ BOHDAN KLID ♦ ZENON E. KOHUT ♦ NANCY SHIELDS KOLLMANN ♦ ВОЛОДИМИР КРАВЧЕНКО ♦ PAUL ROBERT MAGOCSI ♦ DAVID MARPLES ♦ O. ЮРІЙ МИЦИК ♦ VICTOR OSTAPCHUK ♦ ULIANA PASICZNYK ♦ SERHII PLOKHY ♦ ANDRZEJ POPPE AND DANUTA POPPE ♦ MOSHE ROSMAN ♦ DAVID SAUNDERS ♦ FRANCES SWYRIPA ♦ ROMAN SZPORLUK ♦ TАТЬЯНА ТАИРОВА-ЯКОВЛЕВА ♦ OLEKSIY TOLOCHKO ♦ ZBIGNIEW WÓJCIK ♦ LARRY WOLFF ♦ NATALIA YAKOVENKO An Unrealized Project of Irish Colonization in Ukraine (1655) Yaroslav Fedoruk Twelve years ago an article I wrote about a project to settle Irish colo- nists in the Ukrainian lands in 1655 was published.1 Materials obtained since then have inspired the present article, which supplements the con- clusions set forth in my earlier one. During the intervening period I have had occasion to discuss the question of mid-seventeenth-century Irish colonization of Ukraine with Frank Sysyn, who traces part of his ances- try back to Ireland. In one of our conversations he noted a mention of such colonization plans in an anonymous Polish political tract of the pe- riod. Since new sources on this subject have come into my hands only occasionally, in the course of research on larger projects, it has taken considerable time to accumulate enough material to warrant a re-exam- ination of my earlier conclusions. The spring of 1655 was the last period of relative peace enjoyed by the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth before the Swedish invasion. The Okh- mativ military campaign, which led to the de facto defeat of the Polish ar- my and the Tatar Hordes, had just ended, and the hetman of Ukraine, Bohdan Khmelnytsky (1648–57), as well as the Muscovite tsar, Aleksei Mikhailovich (1645–76), were planning new campaigns against Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. In the north, King Charles X Gustav of Sweden (1654–60) was making extensive preparations for war with Po- land, on which the Council of State in Stockholm had resolved following debates in December 1654. The Holy Roman Empire, weakened іn the Thirty Years’ War, refused to support King John Casimir of Poland (1648– 68) with military force, restricting itself to diplomatic mediation between the Commonwealth and Muscovy or Sweden. At the same time Oliver Cromwell, the Lord Protector of England, was strongly importuned by Swedish envoys in London to conclude an agreement with Sweden against the United Provinces.2 The diplomatic activity of the Polish government in 1 “Polski plany irlandskoi kolonizatsii Ukrainy u 1655 rotsi,” Ukraina v mynulomu (Ky- iv and Lviv), vyp. 9 (1996): 31–36. 2 Michael Roberts, “Cromwell and the Baltic,” The English Historical Review 76, 118 Yaroslav Fedoruk the Dutch Republic and England in 1654 was directed toward the for- mation of a league for the defense of the Baltic region against the aggres- sive plans of Sweden. Contrary to their intent, John Casimir’s actions led to a deterioration of relations between the Kingdom of Poland and the government of Oliver Cromwell. After the end of the Okhmativ campaign the Commonwealth devoted considerable effort to raising new forces to fend off Ukrainian and Mus- covite troops. Under these circumstances, there was talk in Polish official circles about Irish soldiers seeking to enter the service of the Crown ar- my. This is apparent from a letter of 4 March 1655 from the castellan of Wojnicz, Jan Wielopolski, to King John Casimir. A copy of it is pre- served in a seventeenth-century manuscript book that Wielopolski com- piled. Such books, of the genre known as silva rerum, were popular among the nobility; they contained notes on a variety of current events and copies of official and private documents. “I see no other means for a military expedition,” wrote Wielopolski in his letter, than to levy some thousands of Irishmen (Irlandczykow) as soon as possible, who, as I have heard, offered their services to Your Royal Majesty, our Gracious Lord. I see many advantages in this: these peo- ple are ready now … if given some respectable commissioner com- petent in accompanying foreigners, they would come directly under the command of the lords hetmans without delay. And not only could they be used in war, but, knowing them as martial men—this severity of the settlers also hardens their innate characteristics—Your Royal Majesty, our Gracious Lord, might also settle them in place of the Cossacks in those lands [na mieysce Kozakow w tamtych kraiach osadzic moze w. k. m., p. n. młciwy]. This will create a defense and a shield for the father- land from that side [munimentum i zasłona od tamtej strony Oyczyznie się uczyni], and at the same time these [lands] could be the place of [their] recompense. The best of them could be admitted to noble pre- rogatives ... so that subsequently this would create a great obstacle to any rebellion, just as the very difference of nations [would prevent re- bellions] as well.3 This is not an unreliable report from a military camp, nor is it idle rumor or hearsay, but a letter from an influential Polish official to the king (Wielopolski also took part in diplomatic missions, for instance, as an envoy to Vienna in the autumn of 1656). The letter presents a plan for the recruitment of Irish soldiers to the Crown army, with further settle- no. 300 (1961): 415–17. 3 Main Archives of Older Records in Warsaw, Public Archive of the Potockis, bk. 45, vol. 1, fols. 16–16v. For the Polish text, see appendix 1 below. An Unrealized Project of Irish Colonization in Ukraine 119 ment on Cossack lands and possible future ennoblement of the most de- serving among them. The date of the letter, 4 March 1655, indicates the hope of the castellan of Wojnicz that this problem would be considered at a council of the Senate that was soon to convene in Warsaw. As things turned out, the council debated much more important problems than that of Irish settlers in Ukraine, and the senators demanded that John Casimir convene the Diet as soon as possible.4 The main unresolved question of Polish foreign policy at the time was that of a peace treaty with Sweden; hence the most important matter for discussion at this council was the formulation of instructions for the Polish plenipotentiary envoy to Stock- holm. Another document—less trustworthy, and sometimes even unreliable in its reconstruction of events—is nevertheless important and deserves attention: a letter whose contents were copied into the well-known com- pendium of Marcin Goliński, a councillor in the town of Kazimierz near Cracow. On 26 June 1655 his fellow councillor Andrzej Jasowski wrote from Warsaw: The Parliament of England, which put its king [Charles I, 1625–49] to death by execution, has also come out against his son [who later ruled as Charles II, 1660–85]. Scotland, or the Scottish land, has risen in support of the prince, as has Hibernia [the Latin name of Ireland] or the Icelanders [Isliandowie], who are Catholics. The English, the victors in this war, are driving them out of their own lands, which these unfortu- nates [the Icelanders], of whom there are two hundred thousand, must vacate along with their wives and children. Of these, there are forty thousand [ready] for battle. Their commander [oberster], or captain, came from that country to His Majesty the King and to the Common- wealth, requesting and pleading that the Commonwealth accept them and that they be given a piece of land [stukę zięmię] where they might gather and settle. And these forty thousand are declaring their readiness to go against the enemy, wherever the king commands, desiring no payment, but only that they be permitted to stay in the places that they will take from the enemy in that land. The lords and nobles [of the Di- et] did not wish to give permission for this, lest they become like the crusaders in Prussia—as their forces increased, they became strong vis- 5 à-vis the Poles. 4 The king’s proclamation (uniwersał) on the convocation of the Diet was issued on 31 March 1655. Cf. Stefania Ochmann-Staniszewska and Zdzisław Staniszewski, Sejm Rzeczypospolitej za panowania Jana Kazimierza Wazy. Prawo — doktryna — praktyka, vol. 1 (Wrocław: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Wrocławskiego, 2000), 232. 5 Lviv National Scientific Library, Ossoliński Collection, MS 189/ІІ, fols. 759–60. For the Polish text, see appendix 2 below 120 Yaroslav Fedoruk Despite its somewhat chaotic exposition, Jasowski’s letter basically corresponds in content to that of Jan Wielopolski. Both letters are fairly close in time, dating from the first half of 1655, although Jasowski wrote after the conclusion of the Diet session, which lasted from 19 May to 20 June. His news therefore reflects the rumors circulating in Warsaw after the Diet. Jasowski’s letter confirms that the idea of colonizing part of the Commonwealth with Irish settlers (whom Goliński misnames “Iceland- ers”) was fairly current in Warsaw at the time. The letter also makes refer- ence to an Irish envoy to the king and the Commonwealth—an unnamed captain who was supposed to present the colonization scheme to them— and gives the reasons (as Jasowski understood them) why the king and the senators could not agree to the scheme. Their unfortunate experience with the Teutonic Knights had made the Poles skeptical about new foreign set- tlers. The scope of the colonization project differs greatly in the two letters: Wielopolski refers only to “a few thousand Irishmen,” while Jasowski writes about a huge number—two hundred thousand, including forty thou- sand soldiers.